Dreams Are Not Always Deceiving
by Nix Wolfwood
Summary: It's been a few years since Vash went off to fight Knives, and their lives are all going back to normal. Everything seems perfect, except one thing. Someone is missing. NicholasMillie


**Dreams Are Not Always Deceiving**

_Nix Wolfwood_

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**A/N: I have decided that it was due time to fix up this story. It just was not up to standard, and I apologize for putting something like that up without making sure it was decent.**

**This, as so many of my other stories, used to be a songfiction. It was to the song "Remember" by Josh Groban. Please enjoy the newest version of it.**

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Millie Thompson laid her head on her pillow. She was going through another night without the companions she had grown to love. Vash the Stampede, the 'dangerous' outlaw had returned from "…taking care of a problem…" as he had told them before leaving them for almost two years. Upon returning, he and Meryl Strife, Millie's best friend, had become closer in their relationship.

A few months ago, the two of them were married. They now lived in a house in the town of December. Meryl had invited her to live with them, but she declined. Newlywed life was hard enough in a normal situation; add a wanted outlaw and a grieving best friend. The possibilities are endless, and Millie just did not want to be a nuisance.

She moved to December around they same time they did, so that they would not be too worried about her. She had quit her old job at the insurance company and continued to dog wells. It just helped time fly faster, and she did not need any extra time to think about things.

Her friends were all pretty close to her, but she knew things were never going to be the same as they were. They had another friend who had left them almost three years earlier. Actually, he was much more than a friend to her. He was her first and only true love. He had proclaimed his love for her, and she did the same, but the next day his life ended.

No matter how hard she tried to move on, her love for him could never die. She tried dating again, but it just was not the same. Nobody even compared to Nicholas, "Mr. Wolfwood, the traveling priest." Tears flowed out of the woman's eyes as she drifted off to sleep saying to herself, "He didn't even say goodbye!"

As soon as her eyes closed, she saw something she had waited years to see, him. Nicholas. She ran over to him and hugged him, which he graciously returned pulling her closer to him. He was so warm. It seemed so real. She could even feel his breath down her neck, and before she knew it, she had started to cry.

"Why?" She whispered to him, knowing that this was just a dream. There was no other explanation of what was happening. Still, she could not contain her questions. There was always the chance, right? At least that is what she always believed.

"I'm so sorry." Nicholas whispered back to her and she felt tears soak into her hair. That had never happened to her before. Sure, she had dreamed of him many times. Nevertheless, she still could not shake the feeling that something was different. He had never responded to her like this in the other dreams. He seemed so far away, distant. In this dream, he was right there. She was able to see him, touch him, hear him, even to smell him. Cigarettes, his trademark sent; the smell brought so much comfort to Millie. A feeling she had not felt in years.

She stopped crying so hard and pulled her face up to his. Smiling with tears still running down her cheeks, she pulled off his sunglasses to look into his eyes. She had forgotten how much she had missed his eyes. They were deep blue. It was how she envisioned the ocean she heard so much about in fairy tales.

"I miss you so much." She bit her lip to hold in the new tears threatening to escape from her eyes.

"I miss you too!" His voice became a little louder, and he smiled at her. He wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes with his thumbs.

"So, how is it? Where you are now? What do you do there?" Millie asked him. Without realizing it, she had begun to hug her arms around her waist, trying to protect herself from the feeling of pain that she knew she would suffer the moment she awoke.

"I've tried many times to be content there in Eden," He rubbed his hand through his hair and smirked at her, "but I always feel like I'm missing something."

"What could you be possibly missing?" She looked at him with a confused look in her eyes. When she was young, her parents told her that Eden was the most amazing place. 'That's where true happiness exists!' He father would tell her continuously.

"Well, I have my December orphans with me. I love them all so much. They are such a joy to have with me! So many times during the day, your image just pops into my head. I want so badly just to hold you. Even the most wonderful place is nothing without you, Millie."

"Really?" She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Hell yeah!" He yelled out, and they both laughed.

"I see you haven't changed any." She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, trying to will all of her might to retain this feeling for the rest of eternity.

"You've changed though." He laid his head on hers and with his free hand took hers.

"How?" Her eyes opened and she leaned back so she could look up at him.

"I didn't think it was possible, but you've become more beautiful than the last time I saw you." Millie gently blushed with his statement, lifting her head completely off him.

Nicholas took out his arm from around her waist and ran it through her hair, causing a few shivers down her back. "You know I've been watching you every chance that I could?"

"Nope, nobody ever told me that." He smiled at her and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. Still after all of these years she had a strong effect on him, one that even he could never explain to even himself.

"Have you ever," He paused for a second, afraid to sound foolish, but continued on anyway. She never judged him, so why should he be scared? "Have you ever looked up to the sky at night, Millie?"

"Yes, almost every night." She looked at him with confusion and asked, "Why?"

"Has there ever been a night where you saw no stars?" He asked her, keeping a serious look on his face. He had to tell her, she needed to know.

"Well, I guess." She thought, placing her fingers on her bottom lip. "I mean, isn't there a day every year that all the stars are blocked out?"

He smiled at her childlike answers. It was what made her so different. It was what drew him to her. She was not as affected by the world around him as usual adults were. She was always so carefree. Placing a finger over hers, he lowered his eyes and looked directly into her eyes, "Usually, the answer would be yes. But Millie, have you actually seen a starless night?"

Her eyebrows scrunched up as she thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, actually, no I haven't."

Nicholas smiled and put his head on her shoulder. "I didn't think so."

"Why did you ask me that?" Millie ran her fingers through his hair with one hand, and rested her head on the other.

"It's nothing really, I was just wondering." He grinned, making it more obvious that he was not telling her something.

She leaned her face over his and her lips formed into a pout. "Come on, why won't tell me? Are you embarrassed or something?"

"You can say that." He smiled and wrapped his hands around her neck.

Her eyes lit up and she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, "Oh, come on! I promise I won't laugh!"

Nicholas laughed at her. She had such a way with him, and he had never even told her. "You know I love you, right?"

"Well, I suppose I might. Although, you've never really directly told me outright that you do." She smiled, teasing him slightly before she realized his trick. "Hey! Stop trying to change the subject!" She glared at him slightly, trying to be intimidating but failing at it miserably.

"You're one of a kind Big Girl. That's why I love you so much, don't ever forget that." Nicholas whispered into her ear, causing a shiver down her spine.

"I won't, I promise." She whispered back to him while sitting down on the ground and looking around her. She had not noticed before, but they were outside under a full blanket of stars. It was beautiful, and yet it made her so sad. For the time being she was happier then she had been in years, but she knew it would not last.

"That's good!" He called out loudly as he plopped down next to her, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him. Upon contact, she withdrew herself a little, not realizing she had done so. "Is something wrong?" The priest asked her, obvious worry showing on his face.

"Well," She leaned her head onto his chest, "There is something bothering me."

Without a word, Nicholas just leaned over to her. He did not need to ask her a thing, because he knew she would tell him anyway. It was just how she was. He just needed to show her he would listen.

"I was just wondering, what's going to happen when I wake up?" She pulled her head off his chest and looked into his eyes, water building up on the edges, "Will I ever see you again?"

"Of course," He cooed to her, "I'm not giving up on you that easily."

"Will you come back to me when I'm sleeping?" Her features brightened as her thoughts and mood started to improve.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure if I can do that." As he said that, her smiled disappeared and he quickly finished off with, "Although I would love to, I think it's against the rules."

"Since when did you follow the rules?" She whined, her happiness obviously fading again.

"I know," He ran his fingers through her hair, "But it's a little different there. Is there anything else that has been bothering you?"

"Yes!" She shouted out, moving her face off him and looking up into his eyes, "Yes, there's been something that has been bothering me since you left."

"And it is?" He moved his hand off her hair and traced his fingers around the features of her face.

"Well," She bit down on her bottom lip and placed her hand over his. "I'm afraid that one day I might forget you."

Nicholas smiled at her bluntness and scratched his head with his free hand. "Well Big Girl, I guess the only answer I have to that is, 'even if you don't remember my face or the feeling you have now when you think of me, I will always be with you.' Are you that desperate to get rid of me or something?" He smiled, trying to take the sudden awkward seriousness away.

They sat in silence for a bit, Nicholas kept a firm grasp on Millie's waist with one hand and the other one he kept in Millie's hand, occasionally letting go to wipe a tear from her eye or trace a finger over her lips. After a while of this, he brought his face to hers, placing his lips gently on her check and smiling at the rapid color appearing in her them.

"I don't want you to leave me again!" She abruptly cried out, clinging to him desperately.

"I'll always be with you Millie, I promise. Even if you can't see me or hear me, I'll be with you forever. I will protect you from anyone or anything that tries to harm you. Those cold lonely nights, I'll be there to warm you up. You might not be able to feel me, but I'll be there, holding you."

Millie smiled at his sincerity and wiped away the stay tears running down her checks. "Thanks."

"So, you're not going to forget me, right?" Nicholas gave her a mock glare with a visible smirk on his lips.

"No, never!" She laughed, enjoying the joking moment they were having for the time being.

"Good, because if you do…" He tried to look threatening, but it was impossible for him to hide his smile.

"If I do then what will you do?" Millie asked, laughing at his attempt to hide his cheerful attitude.

"I haven't thought that far yet." He finally laughed and she again bit her lip.

"What's wrong this time Millie?" He asked her, the smile fading from his lips.

"Nothing really, I just don't want to wake up." She sighed, leaning onto him again, "I want to stay here forever."

"So do I Big Girl. But you have to realize, you have life you still need to live it." Nicholas grabbed her chin with his hand and brought her face to his, kissing her tenderly on the lips.

"Nicholas," Millie whispered, pulling her lips from his, "I love you."

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**_A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading this story. Should I add another chapter (like I had planned, based on "To where you are" by Josh Groban) or just end it here? How did the story make you feel: happy, sad, nothing? I would really like to know how I could improve my writing, so please respond. As the good book says, "Harsh correction is better than the songs of a fool." (Ecclesiastes 7:5) So, please do not leave flames, unless you are going to tell me why you hated it or praise, unless you are going to tell me why you liked it. My writing is important to me, and I need all the help I can get._**


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